


Catching the man

by Redzik



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Batfam bingo 2019, batfambingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 12:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18717406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redzik/pseuds/Redzik
Summary: Jason wasn’t even done unpacking before he heard a pained yowl in the backyard of his new house in Gotham Town.





	Catching the man

**Author's Note:**

> For Batfam Bingo prompt: AU:Fairytale  
> Inspired by [this](https://siniristiriita.tumblr.com/post/184616003264/story-idea-the-most-wanted-woman-in-town-has) tumblr post.  
> If the link doesn't work in the end notes I copied the prompt.  
>  **Obviously it has spoilers for the fic, so you have been warned.**

Jason wasn’t even done unpacking before he heard a pained yowl in the backyard of his new house in Gotham Town. He moved here after he got a proposition for teaching position at local school, that totally bested other offers he was considering. His salary was going to be enough to live off comfortably and afford a nice little house close to the edge of town. It was a little strange, how high the pay was, but Jason wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, too much. He searched the town’s history on internet and found some articles about strange happenings, but it wasn’t overly concerning. All towns had some mysteries, hell even cities weren’t exceptions in that regard and Jason should know. He lived through one.

Jason frowned, getting up from the box he was emptying and headed to the back door. The door caught and squeaked and Jason made a mental note to fix or replace it as soon as he was settled. He stepped out of the house and looked around the yard; it would take some work to bring it to order and Jason was looking forward to do some gardening in his free time. On the edge of his property, where the bushes spread wildly and damaged the fence he saw someone crouching down and reaching into the thick mess of thin branches. There was another yowl, more annoyed this time, followed by a hiss.

“Hey!” Jason yelled and the intruder startled. “What are you doing on my property?”

“Shit!” the man in navy hoodie jerked, falling back into the fence, damaging it further. “Ow!”

“What the fuck?!” Jason growled, prowling towards the man. He didn’t want to start his life here with a reputation of an asshole, but he wanted peace while he unpacked, not deal with uninvited intruders doing damage to something he already started considering his.

“Sorry,” the man scrambled to his feet, “shit, sorry!” and he ran away.

Jason sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Fixing the fence would have to take priority. Ugh, at least the house was in good condition besides few very minor faults.

Something trashed in the bushes and growled.

Jason walked closer and crouched down, pushing the branches away. There was a cat tangled in weeds. It had a black and white fur with a small splashes of red here and there and the bluest eyes he had ever seen. It’s collar was also blue and had a key attached to it.

Why would the cat carry a key around? Jason wondered absently as he reached over to remove some weeds that trapped the cat. It hissed and growled at him.

“Easy there,” Jason said softly. “I’ll just remove these, oh,” he paused when he noticed that the cat had somehow impaled it’s paw on the piece of the barbed fence. “Yeah, that gotta hurt, huh?” Jason slowly took the paw in one hand and pulled the wire with the other. The cat yowled and sank his fangs and claws into the hand Jason was holding it with.

“Ow, fuck!” Jason cried, carefully extracting his hand. The cat wiggled out of the remaining weeds and shoot across Jason’s lawn like a bullet, disappearing from his view in just a few seconds.

“You’re fucking welcome!” Jason yelled after it. He looked at his bleeding hand and sighed.

 

Two days later Jason walked into teacher’s room to see a gorgeous man surrounded by women and men alike that clearly wanted to get his undivided attention, if the hungry looks were anything to come by. However the man seemed untouchable by it, just keeping the friendly face and talking animatedly.

“Yo, Jason!” called a redheaded teacher of chemistry beckoning him closer to the group. “Come here and meet Dick Grayson. Dick owns a bakery down the street and brings us sweets once a week. Dick, this is Jason Todd, our new English teacher.”

“Nice to meet you,” Dick extracted himself from the throng of admirers and extended his hand for Jason to take.

Jason blinked at the beautiful smile and blue eyes of the color of the summer sky, struck stupid for a moment. No wonder everybody wanted to have a piece of the man. Not only he was extremely handsome, but from what Jason heard he was also filthy rich after his adoptive father.

Fuck, shit, get it together, Todd. Jason scolded himself. He was not going to be that asshole to force his unwanted attention on someone.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Jason replied, pulling his hand away before he held on too long. The bandage wrapped around Dick’s hand was hard to miss also, so he didn’t want to hurt him accidentally.

“My cat is an asshole,” Dick commented in amusement wriggling his fingers of the bandaged hand.

“It’s possible I met it,” Jason raised his own bandaged hand.

“Did it have a key on it’s collar?” the redhead chimed in.

“Uh, yes?” Jason answered hesitantly while Dick grinned.

“Yup, that’s Dick’s cat,” the redhead nodded and glared at Dick. “Dickie here announced he will marry the person who opens his front door with a key from cat’s collar.”

“At least everybody focuses on the cat,” Dick muttered, shrugging.

“That’s nice,” Jason deadpanned. It wasn’t fair to the cat, but if the looks Dick was getting from those few teachers gathered here were just a glimpse of what he had to deal in a daily basis from everyone he met, he wasn’t too surprised the man took any way he could to shift the attention on something else. And him having an asshole for a cat meant he didn’t have to worry too much about anyone catching it. “Is it okay?”

“Huh?”

“It hurt it’s leg.”

“Oh!” Dick nodded. “It looked worse than it really was. He’s fine.”

 

Dick’s cat apparently liked to hide in the bushes Jason had in the backyard. He chased away a few women and men that crossed into his property after it; apparently it was acceptable, because running after a cat was town’s favorite game. Well, Jason wasn’t having it. He fixed and reinforced his fence and even put a sign warning intruders off. Which didn’t deter some people until he called the police. After that he finally had peace and quiet. And the cat too. It took to sprawl himself on the lawn in the puddle of the last rays of sunlight before going away.

Jason tried to get close only once to leave some fresh water for it within easy reach. The cat jumped up and was gone in a flash.

“Silly thing,” Jason muttered shaking his head.

 

Jason found himself frequenting Dick’s bakery. He genuinely liked one of the pastries Dick was making every few days and the atmosphere there was friendly. The staff was nice and competent and more importantly they were mostly succeeding in keeping suitors away from Dick. One might think they would let it go faced with the ridiculous task of having to catch a cat, but nope, some people would never learn.

Jason tried to be as unobtrusively as he could when interacting with Dick. The man seemed to like it, because he choose to spend more and more time with Jason when he visited the bakery.

At home Jason had Dick the cat to content with. He still didn’t learn it’s name, so he went with the obvious one. The feline slowly started to allow him closer. It ran around his legs, purring and fawning in greeting and sometimes it even allowed Jason to pet it for few seconds.

Days passed, weeks turned to months and before Jason knew it, the school year ended and he lived for almost a year it Gotham Town. He had a steady group of friends, hobbies and shared the custody of the cat with Dick. Ha! If people only knew.

Jason smiled down at the puddle of fur on the grass next to him, gently scratching under it’s chin around the collar. Dick the cat closed his eyes in bliss, purring louder.

Jason never made a grab for the key, even when it became obvious the cat made it easy for him to reach for it. Jason left it alone and the cat started to stare at him judgmentally.

Which it was doing now, with half-lidded eyes.

“I prefer my men to be willing,” Jason told the cat. “Not be won like some kind of trophy.”

The cat looked like it had a few choice of words to say to that so Jason distracted it with scratching behind it’s ears.

 

Later that evening, when Jason was about to call it a night the knocking to his front door made him pause in putting away the book he was reading. He sighed tiredly and went to answer the door, wondering who it might be this late at night.

Dick shoved the collar at his chest as soon as Jason opened the door, pushing him back inside and closing the door behind him. Jason opened his mouth, but Dick was faster and covered his lips with his own. Jason smiled into the kiss, taking advantage of his height and build to push Dick back against the door and keep him there as he broke away to protesting noise.

Jason hummed, carefully scratching the area behind Dick’s ear just to see him tense and shiver before melting just like his feline self.

Jason pecked his nose and ducked as Dick chased him with his lips.

“Cat breath, Dickie,” Jason teased with a chuckle as Dick pouted at him.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt:  
> "Story idea: The most wanted woman in town has announced that she’ll only marry the one who can open her front door with the key around her cat’s neck. Many men try to hunt the cat down, chase and trap it, but to no avail, the cat is simply too quick, smart and clever, and always finds a way to evade and avoid them.  
> You are the first one to figure out the obvious: Do not chase the cat. The cat is befriendable. Get the cat to trust you, to genuinely enjoy your company, and you can hang out with the cat. You may eventually be allowed to touch the cat. The cat will freely let you take the key.  
> Secondary plot twist: The woman is a shapeshifter. She is the cat."
> 
> It just begged to be turned into JayDick.


End file.
